The 'spirit of Bibiana' flees sis' house because of prayer and fasting

"The spirit of Bibiana!"

The phrase popped up in my head in the dream.

I found myself, in this dream, in a certain house that, I discerned, was haunted by a spirit.

Observing and deciphering the kind of spirit it was, I heard the phrase popping up in my mind.

When I uttered the phrase with my mouth, something moved on its own and I realized the name of the spirit was already determined.

The next scene I saw was the steel bed that was inside the house bended by itself. 

End of dream.

The dream took place on June 17, 2020 and in my nephew's house where the inhuman entity I call "bonsai kapre" was freed of.

It so happened that my Manila-based sister came home and the only house she could stay was the house owned by my other sister based abroad -- and it was unmanned.

She was alone in the house and I decided to accompany her and little did I suspect that that house was the house shown in the dream.

July 21: About a month since the dream, it was my first night in the house.

A bungalow-type, the house was large enough.

I had the sofa in the living room for my bed while sister slept in the room.

As soon as I fell into sleep, I heard a distinct, isolated "sssssst!" (whistling sound) but I heard it being whispered into my mind and not through my ears.

Twice I heard the catcall and twice I awoke.

July 22: "Someone" or "something" touched my nape and I was awakened.

July 23: The long version of St. Michael Prayer started to be recited and cast out the spirit.

July 24: At the start of the day, I began the prayer and fasting exercises to ward off the spirit's attachment to the house.

During the night, I was roused because "something" touched my foot.

July 25: There was a thick concentration of goosebumps tingling in both of my feet while asleep. I still felt it when I was awakened because of what seemed to be a numb feeling.

July 26: I happened to open my eyes at dawn and checked the surroundings while still laid on the couch. It was a normal awakening -- no supernatural intervention.

July 27: No one or nothing bothered my sleep anymore. I had a sleep of peace. I left the house the next day and my sister has returned to Manila days after.

Several persons who happened to take shelter in or visited the house witnessed a female figure passing by outside the kitchen door and when they took a second look, nobody was there.

The whole experience in house deliverance demonstrates the factuality of the Biblical Truth that only by prayer and fasting can we drive out stubborn and tenacious spirits.

Such as the "spirit of Bibiana."

(Postscript: The house and lot was sold to my sister by its former owners, a couple. The couple decided to sell the property so they would divide the proceeds and part ways. By a twist of fate, the couple reconciled after the property was sold. Another incident happened, my mother died in that house; and the figure of a woman, according to descriptions of witnesses to a woman figure passing across the kitchen door, was that of my mother! That was not the soul of my mother because, by a dream, it was revealed to me it was the "spirit of Bibiana." One of those who live there had a testimony to tell. Out of nowhere, her hand was spanked by an unseen hand! One time, my nephew was asked to man the house. Out of fear, he asked his buddies to accompany him. He didn't tell them the scary tales about the house. One of the friends thought my nephew was not alone as he saw the feminine figure passing by the door. When my nephew told them he was alone in that house, the guy asked in astonishment, "Who then was the woman just passing by the door?" Just then, they scrambled getting out of the door and left the house! After the house deliverance, my sis' family is now at peace.)

Testimony: 3 o'clock prayer normalizes nephew's urination

May I share a testimony? The spinal injury my nephew incurred from car accident made half of his body immobile and unable to urinate normally so that straight catheter had to be performed on him every time urine is to be drained out from his bladder. I was trained and had to do it on him out of necessity since he was discharged from hospital.

Every three in the afternoon, it is already a habit to say the three o'clock prayer and afterwards asking for provision of a specific, immediate need -- this time, the normalization of his urination.

This afternoon, after the 3 o'clock prayer and the lifting up of the said intention, I felt the need to follow it up with the "hand-it-over-to-Jesus" prayer and the chaplet of the Divine Mercy.

Minutes after, nephew was able to pee normally in which other cases took months and longer. It is now 24 days since he was discharged and 38 days since the accident!

Regarding his mobility, he can now sit up on his own by the help of physiotherapy. The operation wound is already healed. Neck brace is no longer used as ordered by the surgeon. Out of his own realization, he is already wondering on God's plan for his life.

Note: This testimony was written in 2016. Six years has passed and my nephew can now walk on his own, has a family of his own and a business of his own that he has managed. To the glory of God. Amen. -Author 

The house haunted by an elemental -- duwende or bonsai kapre?

Artwork courtesy of mythus.fandom.com

The gaze penetrated my core while asleep mid of the night.

I sprang up from the folding bed looking where the sharp, piercing look came from -- the kitchen door: open yet the screen door was locked.

The coldness was biting, embracing and suffocating.

That was my first of all paranormal encounters inside the house of my nephew whose mother asked me to man the house as the whole family would be going to the capital Manila.

Another incident happened in the same house where my sister left her daughter, my baby niece, in my care one night.

I laid the baby on the sofa located in the sala and patted her to sleep -- and she dozed soundly.

While waiting for my sister to arrive, I straightened up my back on the couch in the room leaving the baby in the sala -- but I passed out to sleep.

I woke up suddenly as I remembered the baby.

I was stunned seeing the baby soundly asleep not on the sofa but already on the kitchen floor!

Who -- or which -- brought the baby there?

I remember another incident when I was munching crackers one night and power outage broke out.

I heard a crackling, felt something moved the cracker I was holding and when lighted with my cellphone flashlight, the cracker was already half bitten!

This time when I was asked to man the house again, I saw "something" that I was not supposed to see.

Though, I was expecting to see it because I know I have this "gift" -- if it is a gift -- that I can see the spiritual realm happening in my physical surroundings while asleep.

One night, I was sleeping on another sofa and on the edge of it, I "saw" this entity sitting and fondly looking straight into my "eyes."

Just a little taller than a bottle of one liter, the entity was dark red skinned, a bit plump, of round eyes, of feet without toes and body thinly covered with long hairs!

The night after, I slept on the floor beside the sofa where I saw the entity.

In my dormant state, I did not "see" the entity because I was facing opposite the sofa but perceived the presence behind me, seated on the same spot of the foam-soft bench.

I was observing the "being" and when I discerned it was already about to enter into me to "possess" me, I struggled to wake up and I woke up. It was not able to enter into me.

In separate incidents, while conscious of its presence, I was touched in my inner thigh and my crotch as I laid on the back-to-back sofa opposite to where the "bonsai entity" was seated on its fave spot.

Three of us in the family could sense its presence and the neighborhood had tales of seeing an entity smoking in the old lot before the house was constructed. In Philippine folklore, we call it "kapre," a tree giant that has the penchant to smoke.

Rebuking "in the name of Jesus" would send it away outside the house immediately -- but would be back when the rebuker was already silent or asleep.

Only by prayer and fasting can we cast out a clingy, tenacious spirit, I remembered the Bible saying.

While still manning the house, I started prayer and fasting and in my conscious state during the day I could see in my mind's eye the entity in the form of a black shadow attacking me -- but it could not touch me.

When my nephew and family arrived home, I continued prayer and fasting in the house where I live; and I had no way of knowing if the inhuman entity had already fled.

The pandemic the other year left my nephew and family stuck in his father's (my brother's) house because of mandatory lockdown and I was called in to man the house again and I nodded so I would know if the jinn had already left for good.

In the midst of sleeping that night, I woke up from laughing because of the hilarious dream that I had -- the dream that I could not remember any scene at all.

No more hair-raising energies and auras and gazes too in the wee hours of midnight. It has already left -- thanks to prayer and fasting.

Note: Please I need financial support for my blog, dear friends. I am fresh from homelessness since 2013, off and on; and taking shelter right now with my sibling's family. Whatever amount you can extend is deeply appreciated. You can channel your financial help via GCash 09810692733. Thank you. God will reward you for your help. I will include you also in all my daily prayers. -Author

Three experiences: Lucid dreaming or seeing through spiritual eyes during sleep?

Dream, according to Merriam-Webster, is a series of thoughts, visions, or feelings that happen during sleep. Lucid dreaming, on the other hand, is dreaming in such a way that "the dreamers are aware that they are dreaming." In my case, I have this sort of a situation where I "see" in my sleeping state my actual physical surroundings in conjunction with the reality happening in the spiritual plane. Those situations cannot be called dreams per se or, although I was aware of the whole proceedings going on, lucid dreaming. Those are "seeing" not with the physical but spiritual eyes in my dormant state. To illustrate, I have three situations of this experience.

In 2014 when I happened to sleep the night out at the park of then-Davao Medical Center, I "saw" myself on the ground sleeping with my left knee raised and my right leg in flat position. A white appearance of someone I know came to approach me and bent down to touch my raised left knee. As soon as he touched my knee, coldness spread throughout my whole body so that I woke up; and I woke up according to the situation I saw myself in my sleep -- with my left knee still up and feeling the coldness I felt in my dormant state. I no longer saw the apparition in my waking state. This "someone I know" was my companion in my work with the NGO back in 1992. Because the presence was white and hazy, I had a feeling it was his soul. He might be already dead! Days after, I went to their house and asked his brother for the whereabouts of "Favio." To my amazement, his reply was: "Gikan mi sa paglubong niya!" (We just came from burying his remains!)

Secondly, I found myself in this situation where I "saw" myself in my sleeping position lying on the lower deck in the pad of a two-story house. It was night and dark -- but I could "see" my hankies dangling from the clothespins and being blown by the wind coming from my electric fan. I was "looking" in that direction when suddenly a white, smoky appearance of a giggling woman came flying into my room through the wall in my right and I followed it with my "eyes" as it went out through the door (still closed) in my left. I woke up with the same situation I "saw" in my sleep -- with my hankies still being blown by the fan. In the morning, I came to hear the news that my neighbor, an old woman, whose residence was situated next to the pad I rented, died in her sleep. Her house was located lower than my room and situated according to the setting I "saw" in my sleep. Could the apparition be her soul as it separated itself from her mortal body at the time of death?

Lastly, this situation happened in my brother's house. I spent the night sleeping in the sofa and my head was so situated that I could see door of the kitchen a bit farther away from me. In that situation, I "saw" a lady in white looking by the window; but, in actuality, there was no window in that location but an enclosure for roosters. It was long before I told my brother about my supernatural experience involving his house. When I came to tell him so, he confessed that the wood used to build the cage for roosters located a bit farther away from where I was sleeping was part and parcel of the window pane of the house that was demolished. The woman, a homebody, who frequented looking from that window, committed suicide! Spiritual eyes are the capacity in us that allows us to perceive (or see) spiritual realities that, in my case, are disguised as and appear to be dreams.

Know thyself: The starting point towards a better self

"Know thyself." -Socrates

If there's a need for us to change, this change we are aspiring for is change to better ourselves -- from worse to bad, from bad to good, from good to better, from better to best -- gradually. The way is self-knowledge, self-awareness -- or to "know thyself." We cannot accept something that is, to our conscious mind, non-existent yet subconsciously existent within us. Try to see if you have worse habits common within your bloodline: your immediate family and relatives. If this is so, your bloodline is suffering from an affliction brought about by the sins of your ancestors. You are carrying a certain curse passed on down from generation to generation to your own generation and on to generations following you if not broken. After self-knowledge is self-acceptance and the realization of the necessity to control our bad habits -- thus, self-control, one of the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit. When we do others good despite the ill treatment we receive from them, we are controlling the curses we have had inside of us, thus we are executing self-control. Doing good despite the ill treatment, however, is not allowing ourselves to be just "doormats" but we can be doing good like praying for them -- at a distance. Walking away is self-care on our side and lessons learned on the side of the other so they may also be taught self-control. When the other side has learned the lesson, both sides then have practiced self-control and we can be one in the same place once again. If the other person is a family or a member of a community and there's no way we can walk away, self-control is put to real test and this process spells pain which can be bearable when offered for our continued conversion and the conversions of those who ill-treated us, the lukewarm and the unconverted. Pain endured, however, will bring to fruition other spiritual gifts aside from the fruit of the Holy Spirit that we already have which is self-control. And one of the spiritual gifts that will be born within us is the breaking off of the curses passed on down to us by our ancestors. In the words of Dr. Wayne Dyer, "How people treat you is their karma; how you react is yours." Let me reword "karma" in this quote with "curse and blessing." When people ill-treated us, that is their curse; when we reacted violently, that is our own curse. When people do us good, those are their blessings; when we are the recipients of their blessings, naturally goodness begets goodness. However, I repeat, when we do others good despite the ill treatment we receive from them, we are controlling the curses we have had inside of us, thus we are executing self-control. "EVERYTHING is possible with God." It is a gradual process of trial and error. We can do it with the help of God via His Words and the Sacraments.

"How people treat you is their karma; how you react is yours." -Dr. Wayne Dyer

Stubborn oysters

Why do you cling to a concrete seawall like you have found your place forever?

Why can't you be wandering or be one with sea instead?

The sun is yet beginning to grow; and small splashes of low tides intermittently kiss you on a lower dyke.

I can see you in your shell squirting water after every splash of sea waves you are stroked with. You are truly alive.

What if the sea is even nowhere in sight? Can you survive the scorching heat of the sun?

You seem to be dead when dry and resurrected when hit by the waves.

Are you there forever, oysters? You're not, you little stubborn creatures!

Your flesh will soon be rooted up and eaten. Is that what you are called for?

Oysters cannot hear me, for the great waters have come.

Oyster on rock. Photo by fjacinto

Talisay: The hauntings of a demon and enchanted spirits

Photo taken 4/7/2021 by FJ

The huge Talisay tree grounded in the place where I had spent the nights sleeping last year as a homeless person was haunted by a demon and enchanted spirits.

I was still new to the place when a street dog barked and howled in my direction. My thinking was: "Does the dog see a ghost or elementals that I did not see?" My impression on the matter was proven true because of the paranormal activities I would have to experience while sleeping in the area.

I have had this spiritual gift where I can "see" the spiritual world at play in the physical settings where I happen to be. When the area I happen to be has spiritual or paranormal activities taking place, I will see the actual happening in my sleep. Sometimes, I'll see the activities with my physical eyes slightly open in my dormant state; other times, my physical eyes are closed and my spiritual eyes are at work to "see" the spirits at play in my surroundings while sleeping. This gift is activated during nighttime.

The tree was haunted by a demon. I saw the shadowy apparition of a demon or higher than a demon (I won't mention the term here.) in my sleep. I didn't like the feeling it provided my whole being. Having sensed the strange, hair-raising effect down my spine, I was transitioned to full wakefulness. The figure was still there and it was the shadow of leaves forming such figure. Appearing probably for four nights, the shadow figure was cast on the roof of a certain building beside the establishment where I slept the night.

Another incident, I was awakened by a thick, sudden gust of wind that fell and crashed itself on the floor as I was sleeping on a hammock.

In my sleep, I was "seeing" a dark male figure that was about to jump and intentionally to fall on the floor before me. When the figure jumped and fell, I sprang up from sleep because of the impact of the fall; but nobody was there -- just the thick, sudden gust of wind blowing on me. The dark spirit was like playing a game on me to awaken and frighten me. I was stunned but I tried to control my fright because the more they see you frightened, the more they would do you other similar acts to frighten you again.

Enchanted spirits, locally termed as "engkanto," had also been taking shelter in the Talisay tree. One night, I was witnessing right before my eyes a carnival ride attached to the tree branch, emanating from the ride various vivid pastel lightings. Bewildered by the display of colors of lights and the whole magical image, I was brought to a full awakening. It was large leaves that caught the lights coming from the adjacent street post.

And, finally, one night, during sleep, I sensed something supernatural: I "saw" luminous lights flickering like stilled fireflies settling on the leaves of the tree above me. The scene of wonder brought me to total wakefulness and I took a picture -- the one I'm using in this post. The photo captured is no longer as magical as I "saw" in that state of my deep sleep.

I ended my homelessness and had done days of prayer and fasting to drive away the spirits dwelling in the tree and its vicinity. I wanted to sleep there again to know if the spirits had already fled. I had no time to spend a night there but I happened to pass by the area at night. The area has been fully lighted and adorned with plants and lanterns. The feeling was no longer sharp, edgy and goosebumpy. I take that as a sign the spirits have already left for good.

Dogs can sense spirits. I am just as gifted as the dog is.

Self-control: Addressing personal toxicities

Photo by Damon On Road

All of us have had some levels of toxicities lurking in and manifesting from our personalities. Some, for example, may be irrationally jealous, envious, temperamental or revengeful; others, habitual liars, gossipers, control freaks, exploiters, seducers, deceivers, et cetera. We have inherited bad mannerisms, worse attitudes and worst habits and traits from our forefathers due to unconfessed ancestral sins. We are in bondage to the effects of the unconfessed sins of our ancestors. Prayers and sacrifices can break off ancestral bondage and curses passed on down to us and mostly the result takes time to manifest so while waiting for prayers and sacrifices to take effect, we need to tame these demons within us. Moreso, when we are practicing Catholics -- Christians, for that matter -- we should put our toxicities on hold. "Self control" being one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit is written in the map and almanac of Christianity, the Bible; and as such, Christians are expected to strive for its fruition in our lives. We cannot be double-minded persons. A Catholic or a Christian in practice cannot be, at the same time, an agent of Hell! When, however, we fall into sinning, the Holy Spirit will convict us of the state of our souls. Go back right away by making a confession to a Catholic priest if we are Catholics or confess your sins direct to God if you are a non-Catholic Christian. If, however, this "sinning and confessing, confessing and sinning" cycle becomes a habit, our spiritual life has not at all leveled up. We are practicing Catholics, practicing Christians still -- but toxic practicing Catholics and Christians! We cannot graduate to the next level in the ladder of spiritual progress if and when we allow ourselves to remain imprisoned in the cycle of spiritual redundancy and stagnation. Stop the cycle and get out of the path laid down by our ancestors via unconfessed sins, self-justification and complacency. Let's do our best to level up by humbling ourselves as to indulge in self-examination, self-acceptance and confession and God will bless our efforts towards becoming the original version of ourselves: the image and likeness of God.

Life is waiting

Waiting for a seed to grow

Waiting for a bud to blossom

Waiting for a tree to bear fruit

Waiting is life, life is waiting

Waiting for a sunrise during the night

Waiting for a rainbow during the flood

Waiting for a downpour during the drought

Waiting is life, life is waiting

Waiting for a miracle behind faith

Waiting for an answer behind prayer

Waiting for a reward behind obedience

Waiting is life, life is waiting

Waiting makes a man or breaks him when he quits

Waiting is life, no one can escape

Only a man succeeds when he views waiting at a better end

"But, will God find faith on earth?"

Life is waiting

Awaiting daybreak (Photo by fjacinto)

Minggoy: From harsh to gentle transformation

Minggoy (Photo by fjacinto)

My nephew owned a black tomcat that he named "Minggoy" [pronounced Ming-goi], the most unfriendly black cat I ever met.

I often had scratches, cuts and wounds from being willfully attacked by its fangs and wolverine paws but I could hardly resist the temptation to caress the pet.

But something happened so that it changed behavior 360-degrees and I was treated like a bro.

Once I was home, it sprang up to run towards me and caress its head on my ankle.

One time, two of its front paws even stepped on a platform to be able to bump its head gently on my forehead as I bowed to untie my shoelaces.

The feline harsh-to-gentle transformation came after I saved it from strangulation.

It had a collar strapped on its neck that was entangled on to a window grill so that Minggoy was dangling, meowing and struggling for life.

Nobody in the family tried to help it out, lest it bit them.

Out of compassion but amid fear of being bitten, I rushed to rescue it by cutting the collar off.

Minggoy was so grateful after that; and I cannot fathom the thought that a savage cat was capable of returning goodness to whoever did it good.

Note: This was written years ago and Minggoy that died in its old age is one of the few memorable cats that I had ever encountered. -Author

Taking everything as a sign from God

Cat sisters, Greco and Gege. (Photo by FJ)

As I take shelter in the residence of a sibling who has a family of her own, I take everything that happens inside the house as a sign from God. When they hide the remote control so I'd be unable to operate the Smart-TV, I take it as a Divine will for me not to spend time watching YouTube and Netflix so I can have time for prayer, writing and siesta. The other day, I was able to pray, update a blog and have an afternoon nap because the remote control was nowhere to be found. "Losing" the remote control was a usual phenomenon before and I came to realize sis' partner had the penchant of hiding it but now it appears my sibling has joined in the hiding game. I'll do the best I can to not to touch and operate the device from now on, lest the Smart-TV, who knows, might break down in the coming days and God is just trying to get me out from the trouble of being blamed for the malfunction. I need divine strength to keep my promise as admittedly I'm a couch potato after all the chores are done. There were also times when they went out to eat in restaurants and not brought me anything so I took it as God never wanted me to eat those foods. So I was fine being uninvited and no food being brought home because of the realization it was not the will of God for me to eat those foods. One time, I understood my sibling and family for not inviting me to lunch out owing to that stream of, shall I say, divine thought or realization. What happened instead, they changed mind and told me to go with them so God wanted me to have those foods instead. I went with them. Those are now my attitude towards everything to keep me from pampering resentments in my heart. What about my family who devised the plan of ignoring me in their lives? Naturally, if we are aware of our actions against someone, surely there would be bad repercussions to our misdeeds. When menace takes place to my family, I would be affected still, being an immediate family. I hope and pray, my family would be responsible for their actions, especially towards their own kin so that nothing negative would boomerang and affect their lives. Anyhow, as trying to be a well-meaning Christian, I should never reciprocate the ill-mannered actions done towards me with retaliation but with love and extra understanding, particularly to a sibling who was attempted beforehand of being aborted when she was still a fetus inside mother's womb. I read a psychology stuff, saying that those who were planned or attempted of being aborted but had a strong hold on life will grow up to be a problem child or individual. True enough as she displays toxic qualities and bad habits past and present! That's why, I keep understanding this particular sibling of mine because of her past that was none of her doing and she doesn't know about. I am 15 years older than her and our parents already talked about the abortion attempt even she was still too young to understand the conversation. Time might come when I would not be able to take her attitudes anymore. Probably, I'd take it as God's way of telling me it's time to go homeless again.

The Eagle Eye: Captioned photographs

A plant breaks through concrete! Why so when a plant is soft and concrete is hard? Ah, one thing we, humans, take for granted — a plant is a Divine creation. So is the rest of its clan, Nature! Thus, man cannot outdo the Divine: either human works must blend with Nature or humans must leave it untouched. (Photo by FJ)

Out of place? Two buildings are closing in on a tree. Is progress shooing away nature from the city? (Photo by FJ)

Rise above mediocrity. See things from a higher point of view or from within you. Be different yet simple -- as a green, wide-winged butterfly in the photograph that rises above past self, the forever-crawling-caterpillar notion of life. (Photo by FJ)

The rainbow-winged

Photo by FJ

"What you are is God's gift to you..."

Before one enters a portal new to him, he finds himself at a loss, afraid, and apprehensive as to what is in store for him beyond that door. 

One thing is certain, however. By the time he decides to tread the path leading to that portal, what he has just made is the greatest decision he ever thought of -- the acceptance of self... the first step in achieving great goals.

Sure enough, if he did not take that first step, accepting himself as he really is, he would be an ugly green caterpillar, crawling on the branches of endless uncertainties.

But the caterpillar soon learns the golden message that the stepping stone to achieve great things lies in the threshold of accepting its real self.

That threshold alone spells nothing but courage.

And that same courage is put to real test -- the caterpillar has to lock itself behind the bars of cocoon for a long time... a dark, warm, painful, lonely battle to reach the unreachable.

We, humans, share the same experience... the same struggle. Now, they are brave people in our midst who accept themselves as they are.

And are determined enough to move on from there.

For a long while, the cocooned caterpillar has to end what it has started. And taste the ripe fruits of its toils.

Yes, if there is a beginning, there is an end. But for those who understand its real meaning, the struggle has not died yet.

It only opens a new chapter in life.

As it came out slowly from the cocoon's door, the different creature was greeted with the stillness of the darkness -- the same darkness when it entered that same world.

But the caterpillar -- now, a rainbow-winged butterfly! -- knows, for sure, that the night is different from the night it was once before.

A new horizon is taking shape in the distance.

One wondered, before, what lies beyond that horizon. But the butterfly is certain that ahead of those far-fetched mountains is a new day that is about to unfold before the eyes of the world.

There is a new hope, new life that promises a new beginning.

Now, the butterfly has to flap its wings and see and do new role, new responsibilities that await him.

For us, humans, whose struggle in life is patterned after the cocooned caterpillar's, what we have achieved of late is only a beginning of another higher level of achievement.

Ours is a lifetime quest.

As the sunflowers await the butterflies, the world awaits these promising men and women.

This is where the truth from the saying comes back to heart.

"...what you become is your gift to God!"

Note: I wrote the first half of this piece as prologue and the second half as epilogue for our batch '90 yearbook back in college. -Author

The Talisay tree of the Crucified Christ

Photo by fjacinto

"Talisay" (tuh-lee-sigh) is a tree common in the Philippines but the one in the photo is unique in that it is doubly-trunked and the upper part of the right trunk looks like a Crucified Christ. Amazing too because it grows and stands inside the compound of a particular Catholic church in southern Philippines. I first noticed the Crucified Christ resemblance when I was inside the church one afternoon and saw it from the viewpoint of the grille window of the church. Personally, I feel like the image is telling us the beauty and the value of suffering. Suffering is part and parcel of our day-to-day living whether we like it or not. The rich and the poor suffer. The beautiful and the not-so-beautiful. The learned and the unlearned. The fit and the fat. The abled and the disabled. The self-righteous and the righteous. All! We suffer simply because we fail to see and accept suffering as something beautiful and valuable to our growth as a human being. We can learn a lot from the caterpillar that has to wrap itself inside the cocoon, it endures and accepts much sufferings of loneliness, darkness and spiritual desert to achieve a higher level of existence. By its sufferings are birthed in its soul new gifts -- the gift of wings, the gift of colors, and the gift of flight! So it is in the life of a human being.

Photo by Justin Lauria

The white bridge and the new white city

Photo by Public Domain Pictures

I found myself, all of a sudden, surrounded by waters in mid-ocean so inky-dark, terrifying, and ominous that I could feel the depth beneath my feet roaring and satiating to gobble me up.

I was floating on a sea surface of the deepest trench of danger and death.

The land was nowhere in sight, not even an isle.

At the instant, a lone, dilapidated wooden launch appeared.

I climbed in to it and another launch appeared tied to the front of the first launch.

Another launch did appear, this time tied to the second launch and another launch to the third and another that they looked like a train on the sea.

I transferred from one launch to another to evade the Ire of the Ocean.

I had no way of knowing how many launches I passed through. 

It was like the Divine assisted me in fleeing from the enormous fury and the devilish wrath of the waters.

Gripped by passing through one launch to another, I realized I was nearing a mainland, about to enter the Gulf.

The towering arch of the white bridge connecting from one end to the other end of the Gulf was none of its kind ever built in the world.

The Divine Architect and Engineer must have designed and constructed the ivory arch-bridge of human impossibility. 

Caught up in a blink of an eye, I found myself on the roadside of the white bridge where the soil of the mainland was a few inches within reach.

The scenes in the dream were flashing swift, rapid, and hurried.

Once on the bridge, serenity, stillness, and safety permeated in the air.

On the bridge, a few strides away from the soil, I saw a table already prepared and the top covered with white linen.

A motherly figure, oh 'twas my mother, that sat opposite mine in the table was smiling at me.

Was the figure a soul since mother has been years away deceased? But why was the figure about to sip bubbling white wine from the crystal goblet with me?

And, behind mother, a hundred meters or less away from the bridge, I had a part view of a conglomeration of white buildings already divinely constructed and placed on the Earth soil -- the New White City.

Photo by Getty Images

The spiritual and environmental solutions to worsening climate crisis

The climate crisis our planet is suffering from is not due to physical causes alone but mostly of divine origins.

Reforestation and investment in renewable energy can hardly put a stop to the crisis when next to it the spiritual issue is not addressed upon -- the commitment to stop committing the Eucharistic sacrilege.

Even if the earth is replenished with forests and utilizes mostly nonfossilized resources of energy unless mankind stop committing at least the transgression of the first commandment such as eradication of the sacredness of the Holy Eucharist and the Sacrament itself as a whole from the Roman Catholic Church, the earthly abode would still suffer the consequences of such transgression greater than the ill effects of deforestation and the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

The activity of the sun alone is most fierce and intense bombarding geomagnetic storm on planet Earth. The sun is emitting its strongest deep-yellow light and rays as in the stove burner fire when the LPG is about to run out of gas. In my Science subject in the primary, I remember my teacher lecturing, our sun is a type of star and it's an old, dying star based on its deep-yellow or almost orange light rays emissions. But, she assured the class, it will take many years before the sun expires and is not in our generation. In the Book of Truth prophecy, however, it says that the sun will die in our own generation. It will stop giving out light and there will be the oft-repeated prophecy of "three days of darkness." After which will shine the light coming from Heaven.

The Earth is the center of Creation and if and when it becomes "uninhabitable," nowhere in the Universe is ever habitable for the physical man.

In a recent study, levels of "brain damage" are detected among astronauts because of weightlessness and absence of gravity in outer space. Man already has a physical issue in flight alone. How much more will the human physical conditions be once man sets foot in the so-called Planet B or Earth 2 space projects of Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk? These billionaires do not consider the sun's imminent expiration. Where would they get solar in those planets? Those are lofty yet stupid projects.

Interest in space travels, incidentally, will lead one to interest in so-called extraterrestrials and their advanced technology in spacecrafts -- the "false miracles of the modern times." Extraterrestrials are non-existent. What we see on videos circulating in social media are not E.T.s but fallen angels, also known as demons, under the guise of E.T.s to make us humans think we are being deceived by the Creator for creating intelligent creatures other than human beings, thus, making us believe Earth is not the center of the Universe after all. Only the affluent could afford space travels to get to Planet B or Earth 2 so those who could not afford would opt for offer from fake E.T.s to take a ride on their spacecrafts making you believe your travels with them are Planet B- or Earth 2-bound -- but, nonetheless, to Hell!

(Note: Remember this when the time comes! Do not get fascinated by spacecrafts and hang out with demons that man those spacecrafts.)

Going back to space projects, all are experimental -- trial and error -- but the final say is the wisdom of the Creator.

The physical Earth is the natural habitat of the physical man.

If the physical Earth is deemed on the verge of being "uninhabitable," stop the habit of committing crimes, physical and spiritual; and draw yourself to the "secret dwelling place of the Most High," the Supreme Being, the Creator of mankind and the Universe.

There are parts of the Earth that will constitute the New Earth. Those are places where the Creator will hide and protect His faithful from the Great Tribulation aside from the Spiritual White Bridge I saw in the dream commonly called "The Rapture" in Christendom while awaiting the merger of the New Heaven and the New Earth -- our new home.

Appease the Divine Wrath by preparing spiritually alongside implementation of environmental protection groundwork to help address the Old Earth's worsening climate crisis.

Love is the essence of Christianity

Photo by Mayur Gala

Love is the essence of Christianity. God the Father sent His Son, Jesus Christ, into the world to die for and redeem the whole of mankind from the clutches of sins and Satan. Having obeyed till death, the oblation of the Son should be remembered so that the Holy Eucharist where the Son's Sacrifice is recalled and relived was instituted. The Holy Spirit assists in the Transubstantiation of the bread and wine into the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ during Consecration and the redeemed receive the actual Christ through Holy Communion to give us strength to live holily throughout this earth-life and on to the life beyond with the Blessed Trinity. Hence, the Love of God is defined through this very act of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Should we mention love everytime we talk or write about the things of God and holiness? If and when we fail to mention love, does it follow divine preachings or writings are devoid of this love as the ultimate goal of every Christian? If and when a husband keeps telling his wife he loves her many times in a day, does it follow he really loves her in the truest sense of the word? The wife must be wary and nervous of the husband's possible infidelity by hiding or covering it up through constant saying "I love you!" Love is expressed more in actions than in speech in order for it to be real. Too much PDAs, however, are expressions to show off to people rather than to the wife or husband. The Holy Eucharist is the ultimate expression of the Divine Love towards humanity. When one receives the Eucharist into his being and the realization he is loved divinely from his core, he is overwhelmed at this love divine and is lost for words to express it but in trembling, panting and sobbing. And yet, the congregation is scandalized by man's non-word expressions of love to the Holy Eucharist so that the clerics preach against man's love manifestations and the congregation picks up the sermon as a go-signal to persecute the man. Where is love there? One more thing, when prayers and sacrifices are being mentioned as the be-all and end-all to all spiritual concerns, it is first born out of love in action and the ultimate prayers and sacrifices boil down to the Holy Eucharist, the source and strength of other prayers and sacrifices. The Holy Eucharist is the way of perfection of man. But why are there mass-goers (Traditional Latin Mass-goers, at that!) who cannot control their "demons"? Because there is no intentional decision and will to level up spiritually for the love of God. The Holy Scriptures are not empty words but a record of love in action so thus Holy Traditions, love in action passed on down from generations to generations via word of mouth. If and when the absence of love being mentioned in the literary and oratorical expressions of the divine were due and lead to self-love, I beg to disagree. Love as the essence of Christianity is a given and an experience before it was ever written or spoken.

The birthplace of this blog and Facebook page of the same title

The idea to put up a blog and social media page on life's journey with nature of the same title was conceived and coined in 2020 right inside an oasis.

Nature is being natural. No impurities. Candid. Being true to people, to yourself -- and most importantly, to God. Life is an open book but not all about you, you will reveal in one forum. Perhaps, in other platforms if not here.

My family is not well-off. We grew up trying to make both ends meet on a daily basis. I, for one, peddled food wares for the family when I was in my elementary days. My father was a married man when he met my mother. So we the children were born out of wedlock.

I won't dwell on details since my purpose in this post is to establish how I came to the place I call "the oasis.'

After graduation in college with the lowest degree in a university, I worked as a news reporter in a print media. The job of beating deadlines, making interviews and writing the actual news and feature was too much for me to bear to say the least since, I learned later on, I have been dealing with anxiety and depression. Thus, I have stopped this job that so much drained me mentally and emotionally.

I had done business instead. My food business was OK until the place I rented on was demolished so that I transferred to my siblings' residences one after the other -- until I had no one to turn to anymore. I had become homeless starting in 2013. Within a year, three months of homelessness. Almost every year since, I would stay homeless for months. The last year I was homeless was in 2020 when I stayed homeless the longest -- six months.

During those six months when the pandemic was at its peak, I had lived in the forest, the one I call "the oasis" where the notion for this Facebook page and a blog of the same title was birthed.

The oasis where the blog and the Facebook page of the same title "The -Ion Oasis" was conceived. (Photo by FJ)

Going home from homelessness

On my Facebook personal account earlier yesterday, I have re-shared the message-post by Spiritual Inspiration (see photo below).

And now I've been back home since last night after almost six months of homelessness, let me tell you finally!

I left home last January 27 due to "misunderstandings" between me and siblings and leaving home was the only solution I could think of and it turned out to be the Will of God.

It had been a real challenge being homeless and I had offered the sufferings for the salvation of the lost souls and that of my family.

I wanted to go on with this life as I have been an admirer to the mendicant life of Saint Francis of Assisi.

But, two nights ago, my brother found me sleeping in a particular sidewalk.

He said, he just followed the "leading of the wind" to find me.

It's actually the Spirit of God leading him to my place!

It's like God saying enough of your sufferings, your sufferings have served its purpose, many souls are saved.

Servants of God are automatically victim souls.

We need not complain of the slightest pain but embrace the opportunity to suffer with love -- for God and our fellowmen.

Waiting is life, life is waiting

I am lost for words. I don't know what to say. All I know, if you'll allow me to open my heart to you, I am suppressing the tears from coming out from my eyes but I can't control the mucus from going up and down my nostrils due to mixed feelings I am having right now. I am overcome with acute nostalgia associated with the poem, the hope it promises and the pain I have gone through in life seems to resurface and I am asking my own self, "Why is this being shared to me now when my memory had already been oblivious of its existence?" When I wrote something before, I had had no confidence in anything I wrote. But when I read this poem, it seems I am reading the works of another person. I can feel his hope despite the pain he was feeling. Optimism behind pain of waiting. Yet waiting is pain all throughout. I had forgotten I ever wrote this poem. Luckily, I gave the poem to a particular friend who has kept it religiously "as a token of our friendship." Only awhile ago, he messaged and sent me an e-copy of the card I gave him. Why is God reminding me of my struggle and hope through this poem? Is it now the appointed time of the Lord in my life? I am still waiting, Lord. Please give me more strength to wait on still. I trust in Your faithfulness.

The parallelism of high tides and low tides to life

Photo by FJ

High tide and low tide are natural phenomena characteristic of the movement of the sea and is parallel to the status of human existence. "Mahubsan man gani ang dagat, ang dato pa kaha!" (If the sea had such lowest point as low tide, how much more are the rich!) Without a second thought, a neighbor carpenter blurted the maxim out to the rich pediatric Chinese-Filipino physician who asked on how the second family of his father-in-law fares in life economically as they happened to be the carpenter's neighbors living and renting on a house. The affluent M.D., who lives with his wife and daughters in an spacious house surrounded by still large lawn in a posh village over and above being a stockholder of a thriving agribusiness, could not refute the lowly man's straightforwardness but chuckled and said, "Sakto jud ka, "Noy!" (You said it right, Sir!) I know both of them and my neighbor shared this story with me from the conversation they both once had. "Ang tinood nga dato dili nagapaila nga sila dato!" (The real wealthy people camouflage the fact they are wealthy!) is another maxim expressing reality. Why not? Trumpeting and showing off your wealth is an invitation for burglars to eye you and family as prospects for kidnap for ransom and robberies. In the high tide of life, it is wisdom to keep a low profile and save money so that in the imminent low tide of life, we have savings to spend with. Remember Joseph The Dreamer's interpretation of the Pharaoh's dream of "seven years of plenty and seven years of famine"? Egypt was spared from hunger and famine by application of this God-given wisdom in the instrumentality of Joseph, the Hebrew slave-turned government official whose rank was second only to the Pharaoh. "Seven years of plenty and seven years of famine" is same expression as "high tide and low tide," contradictory yet inseparable realities in human lives, thus are inclusive to the rule or law of opposites. Similarly, investing in gold jewelries is wise investment concept to engage in as gold increases value over time; wearing the jewelries, however, is both naivety and pedestal-placing on one's part but the esteem one gains is pretension. More often than not, the "esteem" most give is drawn out of the bucket of self-interest: either in exchange for job, business, or debt opportunities. In the low tide of life, people laugh at you when jewelries are no longer dangling around your neck and banding around your wrists, fingers, ankles and what-have-you (piercings, perhaps). Once this scenario takes place, the general impression is: you have just placed your jewelries for safekeeping and ventilation of air-conditioned pawnshops and protection of security guards! Just live a static, economical life and be safe from the evil eye and scrutiny of the surroundings. Even so, the lure of keeping (and wearing) gold jewelries did not spare women pastors of a particular Christian denomination church, thus tempted a church worker-relative looting almost the whole bunch along with several 100 USD bills! Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8 lists 14 passage "opposites" of life that express general truth and in verse 5 is written thus, "A time to scatter stones and a time to gather them" -- but let not the opportune time of "scattering" be by means of falling victims to thievery. In like manner, the law of opposites is expressed in the song "Gulong Ng Palad" (Wheel Of Fate), a Filipino immortal classic, in the polarity of "ups and downs" and "nights and days." Almost three decades ago, Charlene Gonzales, the Philippine representative to the home-court 1994 Miss Universe pageant that eventually wrapped her up the third spot, was known for her "high tide or low tide" remark in the pageant's interview portion. Asked how many islands make the Philippines, she asked back, "High tide or low tide?" which gathered applause and laughter among the crowds. The host guffawed and replied: "Give me both!" Gonzales, now married to actor Aga Muhlach, responded: "Well, in high tide, we have 7,107 (islands) and in low tide, we have 7,108 (islands)." The difference is only one island! Was she referring to the "Vanishing Island" off the coast of Island Garden City of Samal in Mindanao? The United Nations convention on the law of the sea defines an island as "a naturally formed area of land, surrounded by water, which is above water at high tide." According to an Inquirer columnist, the one-time P.I. figure was due to lack of "expert knowledge" to determine the actual numbers of and which qualify as official islands that make the Philippines as the experts have discovered to date -- viz. 7,641 total Philippine Islands, a difference of 534 islands from the former branding of 7,107 islands that the Philippines and the world grew up with and formerly knew for a long time. Allegorically, high tide hides diverse islands and islets of material jewels and treasures of the Philippines and low tide reveals its hidden, non-material treasures. Is it no wonder RP had braved the colonization of Spain, Japan and America through years of its history? And now PRC is inching its way via the contested West Philippine Sea, slowly giving credence to the veracity of the 1948 Lipa, Batangas Marian prophecy: "China's dream of invading the Philippines and the whole world." Nevertheless, the Francis papacy-led Vatican quashed the apparition's supernatural origin in 2016. Regardless, Filipinos can learn from the wisdom of round-the-clock shifting of the sea surrounding our archipelagic state: the law of the opposites or the parallelism of the high tides and low tides to life.

Photo by fjacinto